The Happy Family
by Ellisama
Summary: "I'm sorry Aniki, this is it." And then his brother's voice as his world faded to black, a requiem full of broken "No's". In his dying moments, Sasuke felt like he'd finally beaten Itachi; he was finally the older brother. It was an end worth dying for.


**A/N; Read note below**

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><p><em>- The happy family - <em>

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><p>Well, of all possible future scenario's , not once in his life Sasuke would have thought it would come down to this. When he'd been younger, he'd dreamed of making his father proud, becoming a cop and secretly also about surpassing his brother. After the events of that fateful mid-June night that had stopped being both a secret and a dream, and became a well known ambition. One he'd left his home and friends for, one for which he'd literally sold his body and soul…<p>

Until that other fateful mid-June night, 9 years after the previous one, when something suddenly popped up. He'd been meditating after being pulled out of his sleep by another nightmare. Which was a shame, because he had worked his butt off today with Orochimaru. He'd felt like his Sharingan reached further every passing day, which was a good thing. But those dreams weren't unusual, so like all other times before, that meditation session meant going over the well known images of the slaughter in his mind, time and again until his eyes bled. And then it happened; inside his own mind, he was something that wasn't supposed to be there. Right behind the memory of the massacre was a small glistering red dot he hadn't seen before, a dot, so tiny yet so important, that indicated a seal.

Or rather, a memory lock.

And, bold as he was, he tore it off with more chakra then necessary, not wondering why he hadn't seen it before or what could possibly go wrong.

And wrong it went. His eyes went wide, his muscles stiffened. For the outside world, Sasuke sat there frozen in shock as if all life had left him. The contrary was true, as image after image played – or rather replayed – through his mind. The night, the persuit, the tears-

And not only that night. His brother had visited him. Twice it seemed. He'd asked him for forgiveness, and sasuke had given him it. His brother had refused, told him that he didn't deserve it, but that he didn't mean to, no never intended for this to happen and that Sasuke should hate him. And- and Sasuke did, right?

Right?

But suddenly that disgusting man that he intended to kill had morphed back into his brother, and Sasuke found himself unable to move, to eat, to speak.

Because there was more. There was Naruto, back in the orphanage. He couldn't even remember going to one before, and now it was all so clear. Those lost years, or rather missing years, that had been dismissed for the sake of his _purpose_-

What purpose? For his mother, that he'd caught telling his cousin to spy on his beloved aniki. The same mother who had talked a little too loud about some act of vengeance? The mom, that had scolded him after finding out that he'd been hiding behind the door and – just for good measure – erased his memories afterwards?

The mother he'd loved?

Everything had been so numbingly simple before. But right now, as images of a angry Hokage flood his mind, forbidding him to go through the files, _especially_ the one in his very hand… No, those red marks did not lie. But Sasuke's brain did.

It had to. Something had to be wrong. That red dot could not have been the seed of doubt, the most powerful memory sealing method that he'd encountered in Orochimaru's archives. Those – _lies_ – so real they seemed, but 8 years of vengeance could not allow him to believe them.

So sasuke did the only logical thing; he passed out.

It had been sheer luck that he'd found the key to Orochimaru's defeat four days later, and another set of luck, though those images in the back of his mind told him 'not really', that he ran into his very own brother in the middle of nowhere two weeks later without equipment or a good night of sleep over three weeks.

But that didn't seem to matter. He was no longer angry, just very confused again. But at the same time, things were clearer, he could see things he'd never really seen. They'd fought, because they'd forgotten how to converse to each other a long time ago. But this time sasuke didn't lose, he could see the openings his brother left for him and the tiredness in those eyes, and something with childlike wisdom inside him told him 'he'd really like to die'.

And then Itachi had delivered that blow, the one he'd seen coming from miles but for some reason couldn't avoid; his body met Itachi's kunai head on, his own fists pulling his brother with him as they fell and hit the ground. The kunai, imbedded in his stomach. His eyes meeting his brother's own – worried? Shocked? – with a certain knowing.

And his lips, forming the words. "I'm sorry Aniki, this is it." And then his brother's voice as his world faded to black, a requiem full of broken "No's". And in his dying moments, Sasuke'd felt like he'd finally beaten Itachi; he was finally the older brother. It was an end worth dying for.

Except it wasn't. An end, that is.

He'd been returned to Konoha, he didn't know how or by who, but he did know that he woke up in a hospital bed, chained and sealed and miserable. In a blur the boy from the orphanage –the same one through who's chest his hand had once been – had come by, defended him at his trial and scored him the easy sentence of two years of being grounded.

When Sasuke'd first heard it, he'd thought it was too good to be truth. He'd been right. Because apparently his brother had been confined to the same house for an un-established period of time. "For aborting a mission prematurely" the guard had said beforehand.

Which brought him back to today, two and a half months into his punishment, sitting across in the same room as his brother that apparently hadn't killed the clan. Well, he did, but on force. Which meant, he hadn't brutally taken sasuke's life and loved ones away because he wanted to, right?

That was supposed to matter to him, right?

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><p>One of the many drabbles that I have stored on my hard drive and that will probably never be finished. Today, I was like; shall I continue this? ... No. Shall I delete it? NO, I still love it a bit. Shall I post it... Why not? So yeah, this is the result of that intelligent conversation with myself. (sarcasm)<p>

This one was focused on switching the roles between Itachi and Sasuke, symbolized by the. "I'm sorry Aniki, this is it", which is Sasuke's version of Itachi's last words. The rest of the story was supposed to be about the two of them trying to survive through their sentences with each other, while their dead family keeps them from really moving on.

So, Question! Should I use this story file as a stockpile for all my Uchiha family drabbles (trust me, there ain't a few)? And no, I won't continue this, unless someone makes me love it again with some fresh ideas, which is very unlikely.

Anyway, I'm out! have a nice day!


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